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INFORMAL LEARNING ON THE INTERNET INFORMAL LEARNING ON THE INTERNET AND ITS IMPORTANCE TO CURRICULUM

Deirdre WilmottUniversity of BallaratD ki U i it

Lecturer E-learning DeveloperLibrarianDeakin University LibrarianDoctoral student

ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

We need to recognise that students not only have the technology They use it technology. They use it effectively, and consider or reconsider what they bring to the classroom.

Nearly everybody (over 90% according to Tough(2002) and Livingston(2001)) is involved in some form of i f l l i ti itiinformal learning activities.

Curriculum is not based around it and often specifically avoids it

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SUMMARY

We need to seriously consider what learning students bring to the classroom and the view of students bring to the classroom and the view of the world their experience has given them

Other wise there may be a price to pay for not recognising informal learning For not acknowledging lifetime experience

F t ti th i f th ld For not accepting the view of the world as our students see it

The price may be relevance

Travel books Shopping Newspapers Video store The telephone book Reference Books Travel agents

THINGS THE INTERNET IS KILLING

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1895 SCHOOL EXAM.

Grammar (Time, 1 hour) 1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters. 2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no

modifications. 3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph. 4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of “lie,”

“play,” and “run.” 5. Define case; illustrate each case. 6. What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation. 7 10 Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that 7–10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that

you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar. Smoky Valley Genealogical Society & Library in Salina, Kan., and reprinted by the Salina Journal

1895 SCHOOL EXAMArithmetic (Time, 1 hour 15 minutes)1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.2. A wagon box is 2 feet deep, 10 feet long, and 3 feet wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?bushels of wheat will it hold?3. If a load of wheat weighs 3,942 lbs., what is it worth at 50 cents/bushel, deducting 1,050 lbs. for tare?4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?5. Find the cost of 6,720 lbs. coal at $6 per ton.6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.7 What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 feet long at $20 7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 feet long at $20 per meter?8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

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1895 SCHOOL EXAMU.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.2 Give an account of the discovery of America by 2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.4. Show the territorial growth of the U.S.5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.6 Describe three of the most prominent battles of the 6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn and Howe?8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865.

1895 SCHOOL EXAMOrthography (Time, 1 hour)1. What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication.2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?3. What are the following, and give examples of each: trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals.4. Give four substitutes for caret “u.”5. Give two rules for spelling words with final “e.” Name two exceptions under each rule.6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis-mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup., p , , p , , , , p8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

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1895 SCHOOL EXAM

Physiology (Time, 45 minutes) 1 Where are the saliva gastric juice and bile secreted? 1. Where are the saliva, gastric juice and bile secreted?

What is the use of each in digestion? 2. How does the nutrition reach the circulation? 3. What is the function of the liver? Of the kidneys? 4. How would you stop the flow of blood from an artery

in case of laceration? 5. Give some general directions that you think would be

beneficial to preserve the human body in a state of health.

http://www.farmcollector.com/talkin-dirty/1895-school-exam.aspx

1895 SCHOOL EXAMGeography (Time, 1 hour)1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?4 D ib th t i f N th A i4. Describe the mountains of North America.5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.7. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?latitude?9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

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She said narcissistic students tended to have poorer results and were more likely to drop out, probably because they thought they didn't have to study because they were already smart. ''It's delusional thinking.‘

http://www theage com au/lifestyle/lifematters/new generation infected http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/new-generation-infected-by-narcissism-says-psychologist-20110302-1bewf.html

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HISTORUM - GENERAL HISTORY SELECTIVE HISTORY PROFESSORS

Historum - History Forums > World History > General HistorySelective history professors

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HISTORUM - GENERAL HISTORY SELECTIVE HISTORY PROFESSORS

HISTORUM - GENERAL HISTORY SELECTIVE HISTORY PROFESSORS

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VIEW OF INFORMAL LEARNING

The notion of informal learning and the li ti t th I t t i t application to the Internet is not new.

The idea of informal learning through community, outside the college is not new.

Nothing new in some ways except the technology has exposed people to technology has exposed people to uncontrolled learning and role models like never before

ICEBERG OF INFORMAL LEARNING Tough and Livingstone were talking

about the iceberg of informal learning ten years ago

In light of this finding if the crews of our

http://express.howstuffworks.com/wq-iceberg.htm

In light of this finding, if the crews of our big education and training ships do not increasingly look out for the massive, detectable icebergs of informal learning, many of their programs may sink into Titanic irrelevancy. (Livingston 1999)

So – and this is part of the iceberg phenomenon – not only are we as a society (or as educators) oblivious to informal learning, we don’t even notice

Th ’ i h l d ’ our own. That’s right, people don’t even notice their own informal learning. (Tough 2002)

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TOUGH ON INFORMAL LEARNING

According to Tough(2002) informal learning is a very normal, very natural human activity.

People are spending 15 hours a week at it on average, and yet it’s not talked about, it’s not recognized, it’s sort of ignored or invisible.

So invisible, people just don’t seem to be aware So invisible, people just don t seem to be aware of their own learning.

Therefore they are not aware of other people’s learning, educators don’t take it into account

TOUGH ON INFORMAL LEARNING

You often hear adult educators wringing their hands and saying, “oh, how can we motivate people to learn, I can’t y g, , p p ,get people to learn.”

people are already learning. Maybe you can’t motivate them to learn what you want them to learn, but they’re motivated to learn.

A lot of adult educators perceive adults as not normally learning You have to somehow motivate them or force learning. You have to somehow motivate them or force them or persuade them to do this thing.

they’re already doing it, they just may not be doing it the way the educator wants them to do it.

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FORMAL LEARNING

Coombs & AHMED, (1974) describe formal education as “the highly institutionalised, chronologically graded and hierarchicall str ct red ‘ed cation s stem” (p 8) hierarchically structured ‘education system” (p.8).

Livingstone, (2001) defines formal education as “when a teacher has the authority to determine that people designated as requiring knowledge effectively learn a curriculum taken from a pre-established body of knowledge” (p.2).

Eraut (2000) whose work was based in workplace learning sees formal learning as having a prescribed learning sees formal learning as having a prescribed learning framework, an organised learning event or package, the presence of a designated teacher or trainer and an the award of a qualification or credit.

CHARACTERISTICS OF INFORMAL LEARNING :

It is deliberate and purposeful in that the adults concerned are seeking to acquire knowledge and skills. Such purpose and intention may not, however, always be marked by closely specified goalsmarked by closely specified goals.

Learning may be apparently haphazard and therefore unsuccessful at times.

It occurs outside of classrooms and designated educational institutions and does not follow the strict timetable of the academic year.

It receives no institutional accreditation or validation. It is voluntary, self-motivated, and self-generating. Adults

choose to engage in this learning, although the circumstances occasioning that choice may be external to the person. Brookfield (1983)

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WHAT IS INFORMAL LEARNING

Rogers, (2004) defines informal learning as being “all that incidental learning, unstructured, unpurposeful but the most e tensi e and most important part of all the learning that all extensive and most important part of all the learning that all of us do everyday of our lives.”

Livingstone (2001) says “informal learning is activity involving the pursuit of understanding, knowledge or skill which occurs without the presence of externally imposed curricular criteria.”

“the life-long process by which every person acquires and accumulates knowledge skills attitudes and insights from accumulates knowledge, skills, attitudes and insights from daily experience and exposure to the environment. They say informal education is unorganised, unsystematic and even unintentional at times” (p. 8). (Coombs & Ahmed, 1974)

Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computers, billionaire, among top ten wealthiest Americans. Founded his company out of his college dorm room. Dropped out of the University of Texas to run the company.

Henry Ford: The pioneer of the assembly line car manufacturing Henry Ford never completed his high manufacturing, Henry Ford never completed his high school education. Instead, he started Ford Motor Company, one of the largest automobile companies in the world.

Andrew Jackson: Andrew Jackson was the 6th president of the United States. In addition to that, he was a Congressman, a military governor, Army Commander and finally an attorney

Winston Churchill British prime minister historian

PEOPLE WHO SUCCEEDED WITHOUT EDUCATION

Winston Churchill, British prime minister, historian, artist. Flunked sixth grade. After he left Harrow, he applied to the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, but it took him three times before he passed the entrance exam. He graduated 8th out of a class of 150 a year and a half later

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Florence Nightingale, nurse. No formal education. Home schooled.

Mark Zuckerberg, billionaire founder of Facebook. Dropped out of Harvard to continue working on the social networking website he founded in his dorm room in 2004. Facebook has more than 300 million users.

Anna Wintour editor in chief Vogue Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief, Voguemagazine. Did not attend college.

Anton van Leeuwenhoek, microbiologist, microscope maker, discoverer of bacteria, blood cells, and sperm cells. Dropped out of high school

Sidney Poitier, Oscar-winning actor. Only finished a few grades. Could only read at the fourth-grade level until a friend taught him how to read better when he was a struggling

PEOPLE WHO SUCCEEDED WITHOUT EDUCATION

how to read better when he was a struggling actor in New York City.

WIKIPEDIA

We talk about it deny itT ll t d t t t it Tell students not to use it not to trust it

Denying a whole experience

Truth is everyone uses it Difference is that here we

have learnt to use it discriminately

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Mortimer Adler, author, educator, editor. Left high school at the age of 15 to work. Later received his high school equivalency degree and attended Columbia University.

John Bartlett, author and publisher, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations. Did not attend college, but ended up owning the University Bookstore at Harvard University.

Herbert Brown, Nobel Prize-winning chemist. Dropped out of high school to support his family. Later return to school and graduated from high school and college

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PEOPLE WHO WENT BACK TOUNIVERSITY

Warren Buffett, billionaire chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. Dropped out of the University of Pennsylvania after two years. But later he did get his bachelor's degree

Carl Sandburg, poet, historian, Pulitzer Prize winner. Had little formal education but later attended Lombard College and graduated

H.G. Wells, science fiction author. D d f hi h h l h l Dropped out of high school to help support his family. Eventually completed high school and went on to college

Woodrow Wilson, U.S. president, college president. Dropped out of Davidson College, but eventually graduated from Princeton University

PEOPLE WHO WENT BACK TO UNIVERSITY

graduated from Princeton University http://www.collegedropoutshalloffame.com/b.htm

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SUMMARY

There may be a price to pay for not recognising pay for not recognising informal learning For not acknowledging

lifetime experience For not accepting the

view of the world as our students see it

The price may be relevance

REFERENCES

Brookfield, S. (1983). Adult Learners, Adult Education and the Community. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.

Coombs, P., & AHMED, M. (1974). Attacking Rural Poverty. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. Eraut, M. (2000). Non-formal learning, implicit learning and tacit knowledge in professional work. In F.

Coffield (Ed.), The Necessity of Informal Learning. Bristol: The Policy Press. Livingstone, D. (1999). Exploring the icebergs of adult learning:findings of the first canadian survey of

informal learning practices (No. 10). NALL Working Paper. Toronto: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto.

Livingstone, D. (2001). Adults’ informal learning:Definitions, findings, gaps and future research (No. 21). NALL Working Paper. Toronto: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. Retrieved from https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/2735/2/21adultsinformallearning.pdf

Tough, A. (2002). The Iceberg of Informal Adult Learning (No. 49). NALL Working Paper. Retrieved from https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/2735/2/21adultsinformallearning.pdfp // p y / / / / / g p

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